No Wonder I’m Tired: 2012 by the Numbers

Before I get into the year end numbers, I’ll take a quick look back at December.

In December, I banged out a chilly 571 miles. I rode a bike to work 16 times covering 477 miles with the workload spread over my three bikes. The Mule commuted four times for 121 miles. Little Nellie did another four commutes for 118 miles. Big Nellie did the other eight rides for 239 miles.

The remaining 94 miles was split between The Mule (one 47 mile day that included the Chocoride) and Big Nellie (two rides including one to the Hains Point 100). So I only rode 18 of 31 days. Slacker!

Now let’s look at the year.

For the year, I did 250 rides on 244 days. (The difference occurred on weekends when I swapped bikes for some reason.) I covered 7.372.5 miles.

I entered the data from my journal into an Excel spreadsheet and found that I rode 167 times to work (5 more than previously thought). This is my highest total ever. The Mule, my oldest bike by far, did 72 commutes, Big Nellie did 49 and Little Nellie did 45. The average length of my commute was 29.7 miles round trip. Some commutes were longer because of detours to the Friday Coffee Club or other things (like viewing the cherry blossoms). Some were shorter when I used my bike to commute to and from car mechanics in Alexandria and North Arlington. (My shortest commute was 6 miles round trip.)

4,958.5 miles or two thirds of my total or the year came from bike commuting. Bike commuting saved me over $650 in gas money. I commuted 16 times in seven separate months and maxed out with 17 commutes in August. I only commuted 5 times in April when my mother passed away.

Probably the biggest single reason for the high number of bike commutes this year was the fact that we had no snow and warm temperatures. I lost a couple of days to hurricane Sandy but that’s about it. The rest were forfeited to family matters such as college scouting trips, high school events, my wife’s post-operative care, and driving my son to and from college. I only drove to work a handful of times when I could have ridden.

My longest ride of the year was 111 miles on The Mule on the day of the Hoppy 100 ride. Little Nellie’s long ride of the year was 41 miles and Big Nellie maxed out at 66 miles. I did 13 miles of 50 miles or more. My long month was my 827 miles over 25 rides in September which included four event rides. Despite only riding 14 times in April I still eked out 416 miles.

Of my 244 rides, all but two were outside. I did two rides on Big Nellie on my wind trainer. One of these lasted over 2 ½ hours (probably a movie or a book was involved).

I guess I do ride a lot but not really when you consider the fact that there were 122 days, fully one-third of the year, that I did not ride at all.

All of my riding was confined to three states (Virginia, Maryland, and New York) and the District of Columbia.

I didn’t set out to ride a specific number of days or commute all the time. It just happened. I have not set any goals or made any plans for the new year. I’ll ride to work as often as I can or want to (which will be nearly all the time that family and weather permits). I doubt I will do a tour. If they ever open up the final miles of the GAP trail into the city, I could see riding to Pittsburgh on a (very) long weekend. Another possibility would be a Saratoga to DC ride, which I have twice canceled. Or maybe even a brevet, because you just can’t have enough two-wheeled self abuse, now, can you?

I probably met more people through biking this year than ever. The Friday Coffee Club, the Bike Arlington happy hours, and serendipity account for this. More than any particular ride or event, these folks collectively made my year on two wheels enjoyable.

Being confronted with adversity in your life is inevitable. Just keep in mind that it does not have to defeat you. Adversity is often short lived. Giving up is what makes it permanent. As a certified fitness professional, this blog is my way of helping you feel capable of anything.